Pharmaceutical reactivation of p53 in cancer:
The tumor suppressor gene p53 is the single most frequently mutated gene found in human cancers. About 50% of all human tumors show p53 mutations. Restoring p53 activity is an attractive strategy for cancer therapy. Such an approach is feasible because most p53 tumor mutations are single amino acid changes. We and others have demonstrated that p53 cancer mutants can be reactivated by both second-site genetic mutations and small drug-like molecules. We are using a combination of computational and molecular approaches to identify and developed small molecules for p53 reactivation in cancer.